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Saturday, 25 February 2012

#a160qa (Glasgow)

Artistic Director Lisa Parry writes:
We live tweeted our first two question and answer sessions - one was in Cardiff and one was in London. We'd intended to do the same in Glasgow, however the theatre space there is underground and so, try as we might, we couldn't get a signal. Instead we tweeted the key points last night, but I thought some of our regular blog readers might also appreciate a summary.

I chaired the panel. Appearing on it were:

Nicola McCartney - playwright, director and dramaturg who has recently founded the MA in playwriting at Edinburgh University

Linda McLean - playwright and chair of Playwrights' Studio Scotland

Muriel Romanes - artistic director of Stellar Quines

I started off by asking the panel if they thought the 17 per cent figure (2010 figures state that across the UK just 17 per cent of produced plays are written by women) was an accurate reflection of the situation in Scotland. They all agreed it was. The debate then moved onto why this was the case.

The main areas covered were:

Are women being produced less because they write in a different structure? Is there a female aesthetic which is viewed less favourably?

There is a gap between commissions and productions - is this because fewer women are returning their commissions? And if it is, why is this happening?

How the current economic climate was making theatres more wary of giving new commissions.

Whether the gender of the director makes an impact.

Have a look at #a160qa on twitter for more specific points. The debate continued last night and do feel free to still make a contribution.